The Cornell Reading- Courses 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY 



Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Ithaca, New York 



B. T. Galloway, Director A. R. Mann, General Editor 



COURSE FOR THE FARM HOME, MARTHA VAN RENSSELAER AND FLORA ROSE. Saperyisors 



VOL. IV. No. 73 



OCTOBER I, 1914 



FOOD SERIES 

 No. 12 



MAKING CAKE.— PART I 

 Katherine H. Mills 



HOSE housekeepers are few who do not 

 recall more than one failure in making 

 cake for the celebration of special occa- 

 sions. But how great is the satisfaction 

 when the work is successful! The joy of 

 good cooker\', as of all good work, comes 

 from the abihty to perform the task skill- 

 fully and well. Resulting from many 

 experiments, both successful and unsuc- 

 cessful, this lesson is laid before the house- 

 keeper in the hope that by means of it 

 her failures may be fewer and success in 

 cake making will be practically certain. 

 The dictionary' defines " cake " in some- 

 what cumbersome style, as "a sweetened composition of floiir and 

 other ingredients, leavened or vmleavened, baked in a loaf of any size or 

 shape." This definition includes, of course, the cakes of the Old World 

 which are made with yeast and are allowed to rise before baking. Only 

 loaf and layer cakes made by some method other than by the use of 

 veast will be discussed in Parts I and II of this lesson. 



REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD CAKE 



A well -made cake properly baked, shoidd be of uniform thickness, that 

 is, it should not have risen high in the middle or at one side of the tin 

 and have fallen at other places. Unevenness shows either the use of too 

 much flour or carelessness in baking. 



It should be fine and even grained and delicate in texture. Poor 

 te.Kture and grain indicate careless mixing or measuring, or the use of a 

 poor recipe. 



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